Multinationals, Monopsony, and Local Development: Evidence From the United Fruit Company
中文摘要
本文研究私营部门企业在地方公共服务设施发展中的作用。我们采用20世纪最大的跨国公司之一——联合果品公司（UFCo）的证据。1899年至1984年间，该公司在哥斯达黎加——所谓的“香蕉共和国”之一——获得了大片土地特许权。利用1973年至2011年带有普查街区地理参照的行政普查数据，我们实施了一项地理断点回归设计，该设计利用了与我们关注结果正交的土地划拨。我们发现，该公司对生活水平产生了正向且持久的影响。公司文件表明，当时的一项核心关切是吸引并留住规模可观的劳动力，这促使公司大力投资于地方公共服务设施——如教育和卫生基础设施的建设——这些投资可以解释我们的结果。与这一机制一致，我们通过实证分析和所提出的模型表明，该公司的投资力度随工人流动性的提高而增大。
Abstract
This paper studies the role of private sector companies in the development of local amenities. We use evidence from one of the largest multinationals of the 20th century: the United Fruit Company (UFCo). The firm was given a large land concession in Costa Rica—one of the so‐called “Banana Republics”—from 1899 to 1984. Using administrative census data with census‐block geo‐references from 1973 to 2011, we implement a geographic regression discontinuity design that exploits a land assignment that is orthogonal to our outcomes of interest. We find that the firm had a positive and persistent effect on living standards. Company documents explain that a key concern at the time was to attract and maintain a sizable workforce, which induced the firm to invest heavily in local amenities—like the development of education and health infrastructure—that can account for our result. Consistent with this mechanism, we show, empirically and through a proposed model, that the firm's investment efforts increase with worker mobility.